This invention relates generally to surge protection devices for protecting telecommunications related equipment from power and transient surges. More particularly, it relates to a surge protector block assembly formed of a plurality of individual 5-pin housing units each housing unit having surface mountable contacts for connecting electrically to conductive traces on a single and/or multi-layer printed circuit board via solder pads.
As is generally well-known to those skilled in the telecommunications industry, modern telecommunications equipment is susceptible to transient surges such as those caused by lightning strikes and other surges on the transmission lines. Thus, various arrangements of surge protector circuits are known in the prior art which have been provided for connecting to each pair of incoming telephone lines so as to be normally non-conductive but are rendered conductive when a high voltage surge exceeds a predetermined breakdown voltage (e.g., 250 V) for protecting the equipment. Each pair of incoming telephone lines includes a xe2x80x9ctipxe2x80x9d line and a xe2x80x9cringxe2x80x9d line. Each of the tip and ring lines is typically connected to a conventional 5-pin surge protector module via a protector block. One of the five pins is connected to an incoming tip line. A second one of the five pins is connected to an incoming ring line. A third one of the five pins is connected to an outgoing tip line. A fourth one of the five pins is connected to an outgoing ring line. A fifth one is connected to a ground potential.
The traditional method for connecting a cable having a plurality of incoming tip and ring telephone lines to the protector block has been to manually wire-wrap each line to the proper pin on the protector block. In view of the large number of telephone lines coming into a building or plant, the wire-wrapping of each line is a very time-consuming process. There is known heretofore in the prior art a method for eliminating wire-wrapping for the protector block assemblies. This prior art method utilized a multi-layer printed circuit board having a plurality of sockets formed by through-holes that are plated with metal. A protector module is provided with a plurality of pins that are inserted into the corresponding sockets formed in the multi-layer printed circuit board.
However, this prior art technique suffers from a number of disadvantages. Firstly, the use of the plurality of sockets or plated through-holes in the multi-layer printed circuit board increases not only the space requirements (i.e., real estate) but also increases the labor and manufacturing costs involved in fabricating the plurality of sockets. Secondly, the use of the plurality of sockets in the multi-layer printed circuit board prevents the placement or routing of the conductive traces on the various layers thereof across the areas of where the sockets are located, thereby adversely affecting optimal utilization of the multi-layers. Thirdly, the through-holes being plated with metal cause high inductance at high frequencies which may affect negatively the operation of the electrical circuits.
In view of these problems, the inventors have developed a way of eliminating the need for wire-wrapping of the protector block assemblies but yet solves all of the problems encountered in the prior art method. This is achieved by the provision of a single and/or multi-layer printed circuit board having a plurality of solder pads for electrical connection to corresponding ones of a plurality of surface mountable socket contacts disposed within a surge protector block assembly.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved surge protector block assembly which is relatively simple and economical to manufacture and assemble but yet overcomes all of the problems encountered in the prior art method.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved surge protector block assembly for use with a single and/or multi-layer printed circuit board which minimizes the use of board space and reduces undesired high inductance.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved surge protector block assembly which is adapted for surface mounting to a single and/or multi-layer printed circuit board.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved surge protector block assembly which includes a plurality of individual 5-pin housing units each housing unit having surface mountable contacts for connecting electrically to conductive traces on a single and/or multi-layer printed circuit board via solder pads.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a surge protector block assembly which includes a plurality of individual 5-pin housing units formed integrally together. Each of the plurality of individual housing units has a plurality of surface mountable socket contacts for receiving corresponding pins of a surge protector module. A single and/or multi-layer printed circuit board is provided with a plurality of solder pads for electrical connection to corresponding ones of the plurality of surface mountable socket contacts. An input connector socket is formed on the printed circuit board for receiving incoming tip and ring lines. An output connector socket is also formed on the printed circuit board for receiving outgoing tip and ring lines.
The printed circuit board is provided with a plurality of layers and has a plurality of conductive traces formed on the plurality of layers. Certain ones of the plurality of conductive traces establish electrical connections between corresponding ones of the solder pads and the input connector socket. Certain other ones of the plurality of conductive traces establish electrical connection between corresponding other ones of the solder pads and the output connector socket.